The Man Born Blind (4)

The means that are spoken of here are such as we would bypass for healing blind eyes. The eye, where this clay is applied, is the most sensitive part of the body. The clay has no nice smell like the anointing oil prescribed in Exodus 30:23-25. Yet, if we notice the hands that the clay is in, and the purpose for which this clay is used, then something is illuminated—the glorious power of the Lord when He accompanies insignificant means.

Christ has spoken. What was spoken we considered in the previous articles. The words spoken were answers to questions, answers the disciples had not expected. In the answer Christ has revealed a purpose, namely, “that the works of God should be made manifest.” Now, He who has spoken becomes silent. The talkers are many; they have much to say. Yet what of the performance? Notice here in John 9 what has been spoken is going to happen. There is a striving inheritance throughout the ages that require the performance of the words which have been spoken. How is this in our life? Do we belong to those people? When God converts you, He speaks to you through His Word, and what He has spoken needs to come to pass. The lesson will then be taught that the performance cannot come from us but needs to happen by One who is qualified. See, here, the wonder—He has spoken and now He performs.

Dear reader, have you been made busy at the throne of grace with what He has spoken? Then you will be praying for the performance: “Remember the word spoken unto thy servant, upon which Thou has caused me to hope.” Here Christ is standing by the consequences of sin; the blind man cannot make himself to see. Words have been spoken, but the way to perform it is an impossibility from his side. The performance of the words is above human comprehension; it is a matter of faith. Do you see how the Lord makes room for Christ? He is the qualified Performer sent by the Father to the blind and the helpless to execute a divine work. Dear people of the Lord, the Lord Jesus has come to fulfill God’s Word!

Look at the performance. It goes against all human prediction and expectation. Many are strangers to the performance in which God is exalted and the sinner abased. Multitudes speak of taking God at His Word. They exclaim with loud voices to believe. The command is true, but the performance? With all the talk and human reasoning, the God-given Performer is not necessary. The necessity in which God performs the wonder of making the blind to see remains obscure. In our day many say that the life of grace has become complicated. Christ is not hidden. Christ does not need to be revealed. God does not lead in steps. The voices are increasing where they loudly say “Preach Christ.” Every minister and child of God has the desire to do that, but the performance of it is a gift which he cannot achieve himself. The performance makes one dependent upon the Lord. The wonder is that the Lord begins His work and will perform His work.

He spits—this action of the Performer is a remarkable one. It has a deep meaning. He has to spit. He does not ask for water, nor does He ask His disciples to make clay. In this case the spitting of the Lord Jesus is the means to make clay. To make clay one needs two ingredients: dust and water. There is dust by handfuls, but where is the moisture for that dust? Christ, the Performer, spits! He has to moisten the dry dust to make clay. The means the Lord uses are remarkable. They always need to be moistened by Christ Himself. The offices of elder, minister, and deacon represent the three offices of Christ. The men who serve in these offices are but dust. May the Lord bless our office bearers as dust who need to be moistened and made into clay, fit for the Master to use to perform the works of God. Then an office bearer, before he performs his labors, may ask to be moistened. How necessary and profitable for churches to have “moistened” office bearers.

The Lord makes the clay that is used by Him to anoint the eyes of the blind. Herein is a clear, scriptural lesson; the clay the Lord makes He uses. We would say that it is most unfit to use clay as ointment for the eyes. That will make it impossible to see. The eyes that are already closed have now been sealed by clay to remain closed. The Lord Jesus made the clay and anointed the blind eyes with the clay because He will perform the wonder. The way will be through impossibility. It will go beyond human comprehension and understanding; it will exalt the only remedy, the Lord Jesus Christ.

We just pointed to the clay as being a means. We referred to the office bearers. It can broaden to include teachers and parents. When the Lord uses the clay that He has made, then such persons are only instruments to eventually be washed off in the pool of Siloam. May our churches, schools, and homes be filled with such instruments—instruments of divinely-made clay (moistened dust) used as ointment by the Lord to make the eyes of the blind to see. Then He maintains the truth of the psalter line, “Weakest means fulfill Thy will.”

(To be continued)

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